Falling Hard

by Megan Sparks

  As Jesse introduced the rest of the girls, Annie skated around the track at top speed, stopped, and slid into the splits. As she swung her leg around, she saw the look of surprise, and pain, on several people’s faces.

  The bout started with Liz as pivot to set the pace and call the plays, three more blockers called Cookie, Bea, and Tashi, and Holly as the jammer. The first whistle blew and the blockers bundled up, moving in the directions dictated by their pivots. When the second whistle went off Holly dodged a side block from the other jammer as she sprinted towards the pack. As they rounded the first corner, away from the benches, Annie had a hard time watching everything at once. There was so much going on it looked like just a horde of girls on the track. One of the refs sent Hell’s Angelica from the other team to the penalty box for elbowing, and Holly sneaked through the gap.

  “Holly Terror, first out of the pack, and she’s your lead jaaa-mmer!” Jesse announced while the crowd cheered. Holly switched to backwards skating and blew kisses towards the crowd as she performed beautiful backwards crossovers. She switched to forwards skating as the other jammer started to catch up. Hell’s Angelica came back from the box and the other team had a full number of players in their jam again. With some quick dodging, Holly squeezed through a tiny slot to pass the pack again. From the sideline Coach Ritter frantically tapped her arms against her hips. Holly responded to the coach’s signal and flapped her own arms to call off the jam.

  Annie looked at the score. 4-1 in the Liberty Belles’ favour.

  Sharmila was the next jammer with Liz still as pivot. They were joined by Lauren, Carmen, and a girl that was in Annie’s French class. Carmen and a Derby Doll got sent to the box briefly during that jam. They served their time in the box just as the jam was called off so they didn’t have to carry their time over to the next jam. Derby Dolls’ jammer, Polly Socket, scored three points while Sharmila scored two.

  “Natalia jammer. Holly pivot. Lauren, Tashi, Annie, get in there,” Coach Ritter called out.

  Annie took in a sharp breath and skated out onto the rink. This was it.

  “Princess,” Holly said to Annie. “Watch those gaps.”

  Annie nodded. She could do this. Just like practice. She crouched down feeling out of place next to Holly who was half her size, and Lauren who was bigger than her.

  The second whistle blew and she looked over her shoulder. The other team’s jammer, Mo Jo, was heading her way. Annie remembered her from league practices: Mo liked to sneak by on the outside. Except Lauren had the outside covered and there was no getting by her as she knocked Mo to her knees.

  Annie kept her eye on Mo, as she quickly got back on her feet. Lauren shifted to the inside to help Natalia get through. Mo came up behind, saw Lauren, and veered quickly to Annie’s right. Annie knew what she was going to do and was ready for her. With a mighty swing, Annie bootie-blocked Mo and sent her flying out of bounds.

  Now that was fun! All this time Annie had been focusing on being jammer, she hadn’t realized how great blocking was. Lauren showed off her leopard-print mouth guard as she grinned. Together they blocked the Derby Dolls’ blockers, letting Natalia pass and score some points.

  Annie stayed on the rink for the next jam, this time with Liz back as pivot and Holly as jammer. Tashi had been sent to the box in the jam before so they were down one player. Annie was pleased that Coach trusted her enough to keep her in.

  “As Holly Terror comes around, ElizaDEATH, Cookie Crumbles, and Anne R. Key form an impenetrable wall,” Jesse spoke fast trying to keep up with all the action. “One player short, they’re not letting Slam I. Am sneak by. ElizaDEATH blocks the Dolls’ pivot Polly Socket, giving Holly Terror that break to become your lead jammer! Slam I. Am is still trying to find her way through. She tries to get by Anne R. Key, but the newbie is not having it and gives the jammer a mighty block. Holly Terror comes back around. If she passes the whole pack including the other team’s jammer, that’s a grand slam. Can she do it? Yes! Hey, Slam I. Am, guess what? You’ve just been grand slaaaammed!”

  The Liberty Belles got their player back from the box, who was replaced by Bea, and they played the full two minutes of the jam with Holly racking up fourteen points. Panting as she came off the rink, Annie sat down for her break. The team was playing well, but so were the Derby Dolls, and the scores stayed pretty close. With each jam she played, Annie felt more confident with blocking. When the buzzer sounded for half-time they were only lagging by two points. In derby scores, that was nothing.

  Coach Ritter gathered them around in the locker room. “You’re doing great, peeps. Everyone’s blocking has been right on the money and they’re getting worried, I know it. Keep up the great defence but now we have to up the offence. Help your jammer and let’s show them Liberty Belles aren’t going to be at the bottom of the league this year!”

  They all cheered before settling down to fix equipment and make-up. Annie went to the bathroom, drank water, made sure her pads were still secure, and skated back out five minutes before the half-time ended.

  She motioned to Lexie to come over to the barrier and gave her a huge hug. “Thanks for the helmet. It’s fantastic! Everyone in the locker room was dead jealous. I know Sharmila and Bea want theirs done like it as well.”

  Lexie looked pleased. “Ooh, my first commissions! I got the idea when your dad asked if I was a modern day Warhol.”

  Annie searched around frantically. With everyone milling about, going to the bathroom, and buying concessions, it was hard to spot people. “Have you seen my dad? Is he here?”

  Lexie shook her head. “No. Did he say he was coming?”

  Annie didn’t answer. She waved at Lexie and started backward skating around the track with a few other girls. The buzzer sounded the end of the half-time and Annie skated over to the bench. Coach Ritter sent her out for the second jam but she stopped dead before getting to the blockers’ line. Dashing through the door, hair sticking straight up, shirt covered in flour, and wearing his paint-stained trainers, was Dad.

  He saw her in the rink and shouted, over the music and loudspeaker, “Go, Beanie!”

  Annie blushed then grinned widely. He really was the best dad in the world.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The two teams were still neck and neck. Every time the Belles racked up some points, the Dolls came around to grab them back, and get some more. Annie’s blocking confidence kept getting better and Coach Ritter sent her out as often as the other players on the team.

  Ten minutes to the end of the bout things started getting hairy as the tensions got high. The score was 98-96 and both teams wanted desperately to win. Penalties flew as they all started playing more aggressively. During one jam, both teams only had three people on the track: a jammer and two blockers.

  Three minutes left and the Belles were only lagging by a few points. Annie hadn’t bitten her nails in years but suddenly felt she might restart the habit. Liz, Holly, Cookie, and Natalia were all blocking, Sharmila was jammer. No jammer had made it through the pack yet, though not through lack of trying.

  “ElizaDEATH is standing her ground as Polly Socket tries to barge through,” Jesse announced. “Sharmila the Hun sees an opening, goes for it, but no! Slam I. Am sends her out of bounds.”

  Sharmila re-entered the track behind the pack and charged. Liz pushed against the opposing blockers to try and make a gap for Sharmila to slip through. Slam I. Am wasn’t having it, though. She shoved back but somehow her legs got in the way, sending Liz flying head over skates. In retaliation, Holly hit Slam illegally with an elbow, and the Derby Doll went crashing to the ground.

  A gasp rang through the audience and across the players’ bench. Not because of Holly – who was calling Slam a witch and other rude words – but because Liz wasn’t getting up. The refs blew a timeout and Coach Ritter rushed over to her captain.

  “She practically landed on her head,” Lauren said as Annie gripped her friend’s arm tightly. If anything happened to Liz...


  The crowd clapped supportively as Coach Ritter and one of the refs helped Liz off the track. Carmen cleared a space for Liz on the bench and offered her a water bottle. Liz’s eyes were wide and she seemed a bit dazed but kept saying, “I’m OK, I’m OK.”

  The score was now 84-87 in favour of the Derby Dolls. 2:12 was left on the clock. They’d probably only have time for two more jams, maybe three. Finally convinced that Liz was OK, or would be, Coach Ritter looked at the girls on the bench. Holly was in the box but so was Slam; both teams would start the jam a player short.

  Annie fidgeted. She watched Coach Ritter study the girls sitting on the bench. Carmen had her arm around Liz and didn’t look like she was willing to let her go. Sharmila and Natalia had skated two jams in a row and looked tired. With Holly in the box, there wasn’t anyone else who normally played jammer.

  “Annie, you’re jammer. Show us that speed.”

  Annie looked at her coach with wide eyes before standing up and slipping on the helmet panty someone was holding out to her. She couldn’t believe it. She was finally getting her chance. Lauren punched her shoulder and followed her out into the rink with Tashi and Bea.

  She could hear Holly screaming encouragement from the box. Dad yelled, “That’s my Beanie!” Jesse, who was handling the music as well as MC’ing, switched from Def Leppard to The Clash’s “London Calling”.

  The jammer next to her was Mo Jo, and by the scowl on her face she hadn’t forgotten how Annie had pushed her out of bounds. Annie would have to break away as soon as that whistle blew to get to the pack before Mo. Just like when they were playing Red Light, Green Light, Annie pushed off with her toe stops the split second she heard the whistle blow. She was at the pack in a heartbeat, frantically looking for that gap to squeeze through. Hell’s Angelica looked the other way to help Mo. Annie sucked in her breath and slipped by sideways with the heels of her skates together and toes straight out. Hell’s Angelica swivelled round to stop her, but Annie was too fast. The jammer ref blew two rapid whistles and pointed at Annie with his arms in an L-shape.

  She was the lead jammer! She could hear the crowd screaming and knew that at least two of those voices belonged to Lexie and Dad. Coming up behind the pack, Mo had just broken through and Annie used the same gap to sneak by herself. Mo looked over her shoulder and at that moment, Annie passed her on the outside.

  “Unbelievable, folks. Mo Jo has just been grand slammed by newbie, Anne R. Key!” Jesse called over the loudspeaker.

  Annie sprinted around the track, bending down low and leaning into the corners as she flew around. A few crossovers later, the pack loomed ahead of her again. If I can just get by the other blockers once more, I can call off the jam before Mo scores any more points.

  But from where she was it seemed impossible. The Derby Dolls were determined not to let Annie pass them again. Lauren was trying hard to create a space for Annie to slip through, but so far she hadn’t managed to push any of the Derby Dolls out of bounds.

  Two strides before getting to the pack Annie had a brilliant idea, “Lauren, leap frog!”

  In a flash, Lauren tucked her head and braced herself in a wide snowplough. Annie picked up some extra speed. In her mind, she was at a gymnastics meet going down the runway and Lauren had turned into a vault. There was no springboard, but no matter. Annie wasn’t looking for height and multiple turns in mid-air. She just needed to clear the vault, something she’d done since she was eight.

  Her hands landed square on Lauren’s back as she pushed off. Just a basic handspring over the vault. Except as her feet left the ground and she was upside down, Annie remembered this was not gymnastics. The vault was a human, there was no mat beneath her. And she was on skates.

  Oh no.

  Don’t stick the landing, her mind raced. If I try to stick it, the skates will wipe out from under me and I’ll break my bum. Or worse.

  Annie pointed her toes and leaned forward. It was her only hope.

  She landed on her toe stops and the momentum dropped her to knees and wrists. Even with the pads that kind of hurt. Kind of, but not enough to stop a derby girl. She got back on her skates in an instant and glided with her arms in the air, her bum out, and back arched. From the bench, Coach Ritter was frantically flapping her arms at her hips.

  Oh, right. Annie tapped her hips and called off the jam.

  “Dude,” Lauren wrapped Annie in a tight hug as they both skated off the rink. “That was insane. You’re insane!”

  “I wouldn’t have tried it with anyone but you.” Annie hugged Lauren back as she glanced around with shocked wide eyes. Now that was wicked!

  The rest of the team hugged them both and Coach Ritter shook her head in disbelief. “Please don’t do that again. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “Get used to it.” Liz put an arm around Annie when she sat on the bench. “Because this year, the Liberty Belles are going to be full of surprises!”

  The crowd, though small, were screaming their lungs out. Dad was jumping up and down like a five-year-old on too much sugar. It didn’t matter that there were thirty-seven seconds left to the bout. One more jam got played, but no one seemed able to concentrate, let alone score. Not that it mattered. The Liberty Belles were six points ahead when the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the bout.

  They did a victory lap around the rink, Liz a bit slower than the rest, and slapped hands with the Derby Dolls and the audience. The Derby Dolls all gave Annie a dirty look as if she had got away with something illegal. But she hadn’t. She’d read the whole derby rulebook last week and there was nothing that said she couldn’t handspring over the pack.

  After the Derby Dolls had done their victory lap, Annie skated over to Dad who was waiting by the side of the rink. Someone, Lexie she guessed, had painted “Anne R. Key” across his forehead like football fans did at home. Annie’s smile spread from ear to ear. One of the best days of her life, for sure.

  Dad lifted Annie off her skates in a big hug. “Wow, Beanie. That was amazing. Next time I tell you to be a cheerleader instead, just ignore me. Really. Or tell me to shut up.”

  Annie buried her head in his shoulder. “I was afraid you weren’t going to make it.”

  “Miss out on something this important to you? Never!” he said before kissing her forehead and putting her down.

  “You should be proud.” Coach Ritter came up and shook Dad’s hand. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. Or a newbie advance so quickly.”

  Dad’s hand ran through his hair which made it lie flat for once instead of sticking straight up. He tried to brush off the flour from his shirt but had no luck there. “Annie’s always been very determined. When she’s good at something she won’t stop until she’s risen to the top.”

  “Does she get that from you?”

  “Good god, no. That’s all from her mother. My ex,” Dad added quickly as his face turned pink.

  Annie cringed a bit at Dad’s comment. “Ex” sounded so final. There was still a chance her parents might get back together, right? She didn’t have time to think about that as Lexie came over and gave her a big hug.

  “That was the best thing ever! You couldn’t have done that as a cheerleader,” Lexie said.

  Annie grinned the huge smile she hadn’t been able to muster during the cheerleading try-outs.

  “This is loads better than cheerleading. For one thing, the music rocks,” Annie called to Jesse who was busy putting away the sound system.

  “You got that right.” He blew the hair out of his gorgeous eyes and flashed her a brilliant smile. “You’ve got to show me how to do the handspring thing on wheels. That was sweet!”

  “You’re on!”

  Annie turned back to Lexie, Dad, and Coach Ritter. Dad put his arm around Annie’s shoulders, giving them a squeeze.

  “If you ever want to become an NSO – non-skating official,” Coach Ritter was saying to Dad, “we can always use some extra hands.”

  Dad nodded, glancing at one of
the NSOs in pirate gear wiping clean the penalty board. “That could be fun. Can’t let Annie have all the glory.”

  Annie gave her dad a gentle shove. “You just want to wear a funky outfit.”

  “I get to wear a funky outfit? Dude!” Dad bobbed his head with a cheesy grin. Annie rolled her eyes. Dad was a nutter. But she wouldn’t trade him for any other.

  Lexie, sensing Annie’s embarrassment, turned to her. “I’m starving. You guys have any food?”

  Dad’s head snapped to attention at the sound of his favourite word. “Good thinking. All right, Liberty Belles, back to Rosie Lee’s for the after-party.”

  There was a cheer from the remaining Belles on the rink and they went to tell the girls already getting changed in the locker room. Dad smiled to himself and turned back to Coach Ritter. “Will you come too, Susan?”

  Coach Ritter blushed slightly. “Sorry. I have to pick up my kids. From their father’s.”

  “Ah, well maybe next time.” Dad shook the coach’s hand. Did he hold onto it just a smidgen longer than necessary? Nah, she was just imagining things. Annie pushed the thought out of her head as she skated to the locker room.

  “Hey, Anne R. Key,” a college-aged girl called out. “You were awesome out there. Can’t wait to see what else you can do.”

  “Cheers.” Annie waved before going into the locker room. She couldn’t wait to see what would happen either. What a great day. Annie had proven she could be good at something other than gymnastics. She couldn’t wait to tell Mum.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Back at Rosie Lee’s, Dad set out a huge plate of the Earl Grey cupcakes Annie and Lexie had invented along with spiced cookies and chocolate peanut butter brownies. Most of the team had made it, including Lexie, who was definitely an honorary team member. Sadly, Jesse had to work at the rink, so their other honorary member wasn’t there.

  “I still can’t believe you, Annie,” Lauren said as she helped herself to another brownie.